Page 15 of Primal Bonds

Jace muttered something and both their gazes shot to him. He sighed and moved his head against the pillow before curling up on his right side.

Kyler lowered his voice. “What are we going to do with him?”

“Hell if I know. He says he’ll leave in the morning.”

“Good. The dude’s trouble. I mean, what the fuck do the night fae want with him?”

“Who knows? But it doesn’t matter. Tomorrow he’ll go back to Baltimore or wherever he came from, and we can forget he was ever here.” Her heart pinched at that, which was crazy. Shifters didn’t mix with humans, except for the occasional hookup—and hookups weren’t her thing.

Kyler glanced at the curled-up fada. “Wonder what his animal is?”

“A cat.”

“He told you?”

“No.” But she’d bet a night’s worth of tips she was right. “Look at how he moves. And his body—that’s a cat’s body if I ever saw one.”

Kyler glanced at Jace’s long, powerful body and shrugged. “If you say so.” He took another slug of soda. “It’s kind of cool having a shifter in the house—especially a Baltimore shifter. I’ve never seen one up close before.”

“Me either. I wonder why he was in Grace Harbor?”

They contemplated the sleeping man for another minute, and then Kyler finished his soda and rose to his feet.

“Are you going out?”

“I was thinking about it, yeah.” He paced to the front windows and twitched aside a curtain to peer out at the dark street.

Evie took a moment to choose her words. Kyler was so easy to set off these days.

“Do you think you should? That night fae could still be out there.”

He glanced over his shoulder. “Why would he care about me? But I guess I should stay here in case he comes back. I don’t want you here by yourself.”

Evie blinked. Was this the brother who just that morning had growled that Evie wasn’t his frickin’ mom and he didn’t have to answer to her if he didn’t want to? But all she said was, “Thanks.”

Kyler returned to her side of the living room. He sat down, his back against the wall, phone out.

She frowned. “You’re not going to tell anyone about Jace, are you?”

“No, Evie,” he said with exaggerated patience. “I’m just letting Ben and the other guys know what’s up.” Ben, who lived three doors down, was Kyler’s best friend.

Kyler sent a flurry of texts, and then settled down to play a game.

Evie glanced again at Jace. He looked okay, so she went back to her paper. By eleven o’clock she had a rough draft done. Shutting the laptop, she massaged her forehead.

In the kitchen, Kyler was making popcorn. He returned with two large bowls and handed her one.

“Thanks,” she said, digging in. “I only had time for a sandwich tonight.”

“Thought you might be hungry.” Her brother popped a handful of popcorn into his mouth. “I’m going upstairs,” he said, crunching his way through it. “Shout if you need me—or if you want me to sit with him.”

“I will. And Kyler?” He halted in the doorway to look over his shoulder. “Thanks, dude. For helping tonight, and for staying in with me.”

His narrow face split in a grin. “Hey, it was an adventure. Too bad I can’t tell Ben.”

She nodded. “Maybe in a few weeks, but for now, we’d better keep this quiet.”

With Kyler in his bedroom, she took a quick trip upstairs to brush her teeth and grab a sheet and pillow from the hall closet. “Don’t stay up too late,” she told Kyler.

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